The present invention relates to new method and product for enhancing food products, and, in particular, to the use of starch and starch-based ingredients.
Food technology in recent years has focused on providing high quality food products which are low in calorie content and low in cost. To this end, ingredients are constantly being sought for their versatility and compatibility with major food products.
Carbohydrates have always been a major component of the human diet. Sugars, for example, have been used extensively as a food ingredient. Materials containing both simple sugars and polymers of saccharides have also been used as ingredients in food products.
Starch is a carbohydrate which is a homopolymer of glucopyranoside. It is a polysaccharide found in many plant cells, and it consists of two (2) fractions: amylose or .alpha.-amylose, a straight chain of 1, 4, .alpha.-glucopyranose units, and amylopectin or .beta.-amylose, a 1, 6, .alpha.-branched form. The length of amylose chains averages between 500 and 2,000 glucose units, and is found in amounts of up to about 32% in grains and potatoes.
The present inventor, Dr. Fuisz, has discovered that processing sugars under flash-flow conditions alters the structure and behavior of the products during use. The processed sugars can be used for various purposes.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,011,532, oleaginous substances, such as vegetable oil, mineral oil, baby oil, margarine, lanolin, cocoa butter and the like are disclosed as characteristically lacking affinity for water. The '532 patent explains how this characteristic is altered by mixing the oleaginous substance with sugar and subjecting the mixture to a type of flash-flow processing in a cotton candy spinning machine or the equivalent. As so modified, the products disperse in water forming a colloidal or pseudo-colloidal dispersion. Such modification enabled such widely disparate procedures as: (a) incorporating shortening oil in a cake mix containing flour but no egg to which water is added to produce a batter; and (b) producing a confection or medicated lozenge by dehydrating the dispersion and allowing the melted residue to solidify. The disclosure of the '532 patent is incorporated herein by reference.
Other disclosures dealing with substances processed with one or more sugars under flash-flow conditions will be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,873,085; 4,997,586; 5,028,632 and 5,034,421.
More recently, Dr. Fuisz has discovered unexpected phenomena regarding maltodextrins. Maltodextrins contain a mix of sugars and polysaccharides which range from long-chain oligomers resulting from starch hydrolysis to sugars having a low number of monomeric units. Under FDA guidelines maltodextrin consists of nonsweet, nutritive saccharide polymers having a D.E. of less than 20, while corn syrup solids is regarded by the FDA as having a D.E. greater than 20. However, maltodextrins are referred to herein collectively as saccharide-based material consisting of nonsweet, nutritive saccharide polymers and other oligomers having six-carbon monomer units which collectively provide a carrier material capable of forming a matrix from flash-flow processing. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,387,431, maltodextrins were subjected to flash flow conditions and found to possess an unpredictably altered structure which can be used to enhance delivery of oleaginous material and active ingredients.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,236,734, a new protein-based food product is disclosed which includes a carrier and an oleaginous substance. The carrier is preferably a saccharide or a cellulosic material. An acceptable ground meat product can be prepared in accordance with the invention set forth in the '650 application. Other protein products, such as a soyburger, can be prepared in accordance with the '650 application with acceptable results.
Other attempts to reduce fat in ground meat products include the use of a modified food starch, e.g., LEANBIND.TM. (a product of the National Starch and Chemical Company of Bridgewater, N.J.), which has an amylose content of less than 20%, in beef patties to reduce the fat content. This combination has been found, however, to produce only moderate success. The product prepared with the modified food starch is not even comparable to the higher fat content product.
In order, therefore, to entice the consumer to choose healthier food products as alternative, it is an object of the present invention to overcome the shortcomings known in the art of reduced fat products and food enhancement ingredients.
Other and further objects of the present invention will become apparent in the following description and its scope will be pointed out with the appended claims.